THE SECOND AFRICAN TRANSFORMATION FORUM (ATF2018)

Hosted by ACET in collaboration with the Government of Ghana, the second African Transformation Forum (ATF2018), is a unique, policy-focused event that will bring together leading experts and practitioners to share perspectives on how to accelerate job growth, boost investment, and implement transformation policies.

Chairman & CEO of Dangote Group

Reeta Roy

President & CEO of the Mastercard Foundation

Hon. Uzziel Ndagijimana

Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Republic of Rwanda

Tito Mboweni

ACET Board Chairman

Yaw Nsarkoh

Executive Vice President, Unilever Ghana and Nigeria

Sophie Ikenye

BBC News Presenter

ATF2018 Agenda

Mövenpick Ambassador HotelJune 20-21, 2018Accra, Ghana

DAY ONE: WEDNESDAY JUNE 20, 2018

8:00 am – 8:45 am

Registration/Coffee

9:00 am – 9:30 am

Opening Session

ACET Board Chairman Tito Mboweni will welcome participants. African Union Deputy Chairperson Kwesi Quartey will discuss the importance of economic transformation to the AU 2063 vision—and how the goals and Pan-African approach of ATF2018 can help support that vision.

9:30 am – 10:00 am

Pan-African Coalition for Transformation (PACT) Progress Report

At the ATF in 2016, PACT formed as a platform for countries to close gaps between policy design and implementation of transformation strategies by sharing resources, tools, and knowledge. ACET President and founder K.Y. Amoako will review PACT's progress so far and preview the objectives of the PACT working sessions.

10:00 am – 10:15 am

Coffee Break

10:15 am – 13:00 pm

PACT BREAKOUTS

Parallel Working Sessions

The ATF is an event to mobilize action. It is a chance for countries to define common policy areas where they can excel through mutual support and cooperation. And it is a unique opportunity for non-government stakeholders-in particular the private sector-to engage with governments on this common agenda.

In these parallel working sessions, policymakers and other stakeholders in five PACT Chapters will come together to jointly move their agenda forward. Not every PACT Chapter is at the same stage, so session objectives will differ slightly, reflecting current levels of progress.

13:00 pm – 14:00 pm

Lunch

14:00 pm – 15:30 pm

PACT BREAKOUTS

Working Sessions (cont'd)

15:30pm – 17:00 pm

PACT BREAKOUTS

Parallel Panel Discussions

Each PACT working session will conclude with a moderated panel discussion featuring a country minister, representative from the private sector and development partners, and a sector specialist. The panels should summarize the day’s discussions, reflect on the way forward, and outline the next steps that will be presented in plenary on Day 2.

18:00 pm – 18:30 pm

Cocktails

18:30 pm

Buffet Dinner (all ATF participants)

19:30 pm

ATF Distinguished Lecture

The inaugural African Transformation Distinguished Lecture, the first in a planned series, will be delivered by Reeta Roy, President and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation.

DAY TWO: THURSDAY JUNE 21, 2018

8:30 am – 9:00 am

Registration/Coffee

9:00 am – 9:30 am

Opening Remarks & Keynote Address

ACET President and founder K.Y. Amoako will welcome participants and discuss the goals of the ATF as well as future transformation directions. His Excellency Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President, Ghana, will then deliver the forum's keynote address.

9:30 am – 10:30 am

PLENARY I

Transformation Perspectives

In this dialogue moderated by BBC journalist Sophie Ikenye, Ghana Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta, Rwanda Minister of Infrastructure Claver Gatete, and UN Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary Vera Songwe will engage on the different perspectives of transformation at the national, regional, and continental levels, including the critical role of global partnerships and the private sector.

In this dialogue moderated by BBC journalist Sophie Ikenye, Ghana Minister of Finance Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta and UN Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary Dr. Vera Songwe will discuss different perspectives of transformation at the national, regional, and continental levels, including the critical role of global partnerships and the private sector.

10:30 am – 10:45 am

Coffee Break

10:45 am – 11:45 am

PLENARY II

Agriculture Powering Africa's Economic Transformation

For many countries, agriculture offers the most direct path to economic transformation. Increasing productivity and outputs in a modern agricultural sector not only would boost food security, it would sustain agroprocessing, expand manufacturing, create employment, and boost incomes. In this session, strategies for how agriculture can power Africa’s transformation, as detailed in the recently published 2017 African Transformation Report, will be discussed. Chaired by Simeon Ehui, Director, Agriculture Global Practice, World Bank. Moderated by Bernard Avle, Citi FM and Citi TV.

PACT Working Session D (Agriculture) Report: Additionally, one minister from the Agriculture Chapter will conclude this session with details on Day 1's working session and plan for the way forward. Other Chapters will present at the following plenary.

11:45 am – 13:15 pm

PLENARY III

Ministerial Reports from PACT Working Sessions

In this discussion featuring Q&A from the floor, one minister from each PACT Chapter will highlight key points from Day 1’s working sessions, focusing on areas of agreement and shared learning—and areas requiring more work. Ministers will draw from breakout reports produced to summarize the way forward for their Chapters, including an outline of country action plans and a preview of follow-up activities.

Session A: Extractives (15 min)

Session B: Light Manufacturing (15 min)

Session C: Resource Mobilization & Management (15 min)

Session E: Youth Employment & Skills (15 min)

This session will be moderated by Yaw Ansu, Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Ghana.

13:15 pm – 14:30 pm

Lunch

14:15 pm – 14:30 pm

Heads of State arrival

14:30 pm – 16:30 pm

PLENARY IV

Transforming Africa: A Conversation Between Heads of State and Private Sector CEOs

Africa’s economic transformation will require tremendous financial resources, specifically a greater role for the private sector and more effective domestic resource mobilization. In the first part of this session, Excellencies President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Republic of Ghana, President Paul Kagame, Republic of Rwanda and Vice President Daniel Kablan Duncan, Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, will share their visions for transforming Africa—and how to finance that transformation, including the key role of foreign and domestic business. During the second part of this session, the Heads of State will be joined by two African CEOs, Chairman & CEO of Dangote Group Aliko Dangote and Executive Vice President, Ghana-Nigeria, of Unilever, Yaw Nsarkoh in a lively discussion about the strong partnership that is needed between the public and private sectors to enact—and maintain—a successful transformation strategy, moderated by Sophie Ikenye.

16:30 pm

Closing Remarks

Introduction

The African Transformation Forum (ATF) is a unique, policy-focused event that convenes diverse and distinguished voices from across government, business, civil society, and philanthropy to share solutions—and make commitments—for accelerating job growth, boosting investment, and implementing transformation policies. It is a dialogue built around action, not just ideas. The inaugural ATF, held in March 2016, drew almost 300 attendees from across the continent and beyond. It also received extensive media coverage by regional, continental, and global news outlets, providing broad visibility for the sponsors of the event.

ATF2018 is a dialogue for action. It will:

Offer an unparalleled opportunity for the private sector and other non-state actors to get engaged and help shape the course of economic transformation in Africa.

Take stock of progress made in the Pan-African Coalition for Transformation (PACT). Launched at ATF2016, PACT is a mechanism for high-level government, private sector and civil society stakeholders to collaborate across sectors and borders to speed up implementation of transformative policies and reforms.

Allow attendees to contribute directly to the formation of action plans for several PACT thematic Chapters, including those focused on resource mobilization, manufacturing, agriculture, extractives and skills development.

Feature a private sector CEO roundtable in which a panel of leading executives will share their thoughts and strategies on the vital role of the business community in Africa's transformation process.

Who is attending the ATF2018?

Heads of State (4), ministers (15), and high-level government officials (50).

CEOs and leaders from businesses across the private sector (70).

Heads of international foundations, development agencies and civil society organizations (35).

Experts and entrepreneurs from a cross-section of industries, including finance, agriculture, infrastructure, extractives and manufacturing.

Journalists from global and African media, including print, digital, radio and television.

ATF: A dialogue for action

The ATF is Africa's only continent-wide event devoted solely to promoting transformation strategies. Most importantly, it is a dialogue built around action, not just ideas. As such, it offers an unparalleled opportunity for the private sector and other non-state stakeholders to get engaged and help shape the course of economic transformation in Africa.

At the inaugural Forum in March 2016, Rwanda's President Paul Kagame delivered an inspiring message on the collective pursuit of economic transformation in Africa, urging countries to draw lessons from each other, learning from shared history and experiences to discover the most effective and immediate approaches. “By working together with a common understanding of the strategic environment,” he said, “we can speed up progress.”

Fittingly, the first ATF, which drew nearly 300 participants from across Africa and beyond, concluded with the launch of the Pan-African Coalition for Transformation (PACT), a mechanism for governments, policymakers, and other stakeholders to join forces and collaborate across sectors-and borders-to drive policy and institutional reform in support of economic transformation.

Attendees took President Kagame's message to heart. The forum closed with a common sense of purpose - to maintain the momentum generated, build on the ideas discussed, and reconvene in two years' time to report on progress and plan the next steps. That time has now arrived.

ATF2018: More than talk

The African Transformation Forum 2018 will not be a series of sessions to revisit the general challenges and goals of economic transformation. We have moved beyond that, as the Pan-African Coalition for Transformation (PACT) progress demonstrates. Rather, ATF2018 is an opportunity to hold substantive discussions and debates around key issues that already are well-researched and, in some cases, around action plans for implementation at the country level.

ATF2018 is not asking what, but how:

How do we get over our implementation hurdles?

How do we transfer best practice from one country to another?

How do we ensure the private sector is engaged and contributing at all stages of the process?

How do we hold each other accountable and measure progress along the way?

Among the primary objectives of ATF2018 will be moving from the learning stage to implementation for those PACT Chapters where significant progress has been made, namely Manufacturing, Extractives, and Resource Mobilization and Management. Country action plans will be highlighted, progress and challenges discussed, and next steps for implementation defined. For those Chapters not as far along, ATF2018 will be an opportunity to define the most pressing policy areas and finalize recommendations in order to launch activities, as with the Agriculture Chapter, or to identify the key actors, policy agendas, and partnerships necessary to give initial shape to a Chapter, as with Youth Employment and Skills. In all cases, concrete actions will be taken to move Africa's transformation agenda forward.

In that context, ATF2018 will include a strong focus on the role of the private sector in economic transformation. It will provide a rare opportunity for private sector representatives to directly influence policy prioritization in real-time, and it will present opportunities for private sector participants to lead discussions and provide a corporate perspective.

Likewise, the forum will include representatives of international financing institutions, bilateral partners, development agencies, think tanks and civil society organizations, who will interact directly with senior policy makers from across Africa. These participants will help shape country action plans, with a particular focus on implementation, and provide global experience and examples of good practice.

Almost all G20 Compact with Africa (CWA) countries are expected to participate in ATF2018, hence it will facilitate continued peer learning among CWA countries, and take stock of CWA progress and implementation challenges across sectors. G20 representatives will attend the ATF2018 and CWA side sessions will be organized as appropriate. Because several of the CWA member countries are also members of PACT chapters, ATF2018 is seen as an opportunity to support those dual objectives and encourage CWA/PACT member countries to mainstream both initiatives into their broader policy approaches.

With the active participation of Ministers of Finance, Agriculture, Trade, Education, Industry, Mining, Oil and Gas, as well as the expected participation of Heads of State and Government, the African Transformation Forum 2018 will be a highly substantive, policy-oriented event that will drive the vision and implementation of economic transformation in Africa over the next few years.

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About PACT

The Pan-African Coalition for Transformation (PACT) is a mechanism for governments and local policymakers to gain information and support as they design and implement innovative policies related to economic transformation.

Its rationale is simple but powerful: African governments can accomplish more together than they can apart.

It will include five topic-driven chapters with a core membership comprising African countries, as represented by sector ministers and other government officials. Members will include representatives from the private sector, civil society and development partner organizations.

The objectives of PACT

Sharing Knowledge

Bringing about collaboration among a select number of governments, the private sector and other stakeholders around a particular policy issue

Policy Design

Facilitating increased consultation, peer learning and advocacy among members

Policy Implementation

There are five PACT chapters organized around economic sectors or thematic areas in which policy actions are required. Countries known for their drive in these particular areas-as well as their potential to bring about catalytic action-will be requested to champion the work of chapters and help coordinate policy efforts. Chapters will meet at least once a year, guided by a set of broad objectives with specific work programs and targets for each country.

Chapter topics, objectives and champion countries are:

Agriculture

To raise agricultural productivity, which is central to all successful transformation strategies, and to improve agricultural value chains.

Extractives

To promote local content and value addition strategies as a means of increasing the worth of Africa's abundant extractive resources.

Resource Mobilization & Management

To enhance domestic resource mobilization and to improve fiscal resource management, including aid, so that financing for development is more reliable, more efficient and more transparent.

Light Manufacturing

To boost manufacturing production, exports and employment.

Youth Employment & Skills

To respond effectively to rising youth unemployment rates and to address the skills mismatch problem by developing institutional mechanisms that link education and training institutions to the world of work.

The Case for Joining PACT

For government agencies

Participation in PACT will provide access to highly qualified experts on policy themes; opportunities for peer-to-peer learning from countries with relevant experience; channels for engagement with industry and civil society; and access to exclusive funding opportunities that can support the implementation of the transformation agenda.

For industry and civil society

Participation in PACT will provide opportunities to build meaningful relationships with public officials at the national and intergovernmental levels; collaborate with other public and private institutions with similar interests and objectives and learn effective ways to leverage corporate social responsibility efforts, development projects and advocacy campaigns towards economic transformation.

For development partners and foundations

PACT will provide opportunities to direct resources towards high-impact interventions through a transparent, African-led process based on local needs. Donors will have the opportunity to maximize their impact through harmonization with other donors. They will have access to new and actionable ideas as they emerge, providing unique opportunities to support Africa's transformation.